Enchanted Mama

Pause and Listen::

This was one of my favorite days on our recent vacation.  

The day spent, in the forest of Yosemite, frolicking through the rain.  Completely by ourselves as everyone else must have been tucked inside by the fires.  The sensible people.  But we, our family of six donned our rain gear and set out for a morning adventure.  

Puddles were splashed through.  Creeks were crossed.  Laughter heard in the otherwise quiet forest.  When we stepped gingerly through the pine needles not a sound was heard but the patter of rain.  

It was magical.  

A moment to remember.  

The quiet of the rain seemed to quiet the children as well. There were whispers of voices, heads tilted toward the tall trees and rain boots that found their way over rocks that lined the creek.  The big daddy and I watched in silence.  And smiled.

There's something so peaceful about nature if only we pause and listen.  

Thank goodness we did.   

 

Untamed::

There is something untamed and beautiful about the forests left undisturbed.  An area that exudes epic vistas at every turn.  A place that draws you in and you find yourself and all your children walking five miles and hardly noticing.  

This national treasure sees millions of visitors a year.  Travelers from all over the world.  Speaking many different languages.  Looking for different experiences.  

 

For spring break this year we spent a lovely time with dear friends camping by the beach and enjoying time together as our children grow.  Dipping our feet in the ocean and  sharing thoughts and ideas.  

Then we traveled to Yosemite National Park.  A few days to take in the forest and the wonder that it owns--from sunshine and cool breeze, to a day of rain and waking up to snowfall on all the mountains surrounding us.  

Breathtaking. yes.  

I find that traveling with children can be equally exciting as well as exhausting.  Anyone else feel that?  

With so much to see and do.  We had to adjust our plans for the wide range of children's ages.  Almost thirteen to twenty months.  There were backpacks and carriers and rides on shoulders.  There were snacks packed into bags and pulled out when we all needed a break.  Water bottles toted for the miles we trekked.  

Full was our experience.  As well fun and challenging at times.  

Somehow this vacation opened up as many doors of possibility as it did to closing others.  Somehow that seems just about right.  

I know having four children is "the adventure" and no amount of traveling is necessary to see those epic views, rambling streams and opportunities around each bend in the road.  

 

So as we settle into being home and being present for the last month or two of school I find myself quite grateful.  

Grateful to live in a lovely town that has so much to offer.

Grateful for the opportunity to travel with all that it brings.   

Grateful for my little family and all the moments good and challenging that we experience everyday.  

Grateful to take a deep breath and know that I will be waking in my own bed for a while.  Something about that feels extra great.  

How are you feeling today?  

 

p.s. Anyone notice the tree trunk that my son is standing on in the shape of a heart? 

 

 

 

The Color of Rain::

This simple, but glorious scarf, is made amazing by the yarn that's used.  

In this case, it's a skein of hand spun yarn that I purchased at the yarn guild last December.  The skein sat and sparkled at me for months until I figured out the perfect pattern for it. 

All through Ecuador I knit on this scarf.  Through the cloud forest all the way down to the rain forest and canoeing on the Amazon river.  On a bumpy bus and a small airplane.  Surrounded by fellow travelers and tucked into my room at night.  It has been a delight to watch it grow.  

I was sorry to see this project come to an end though.  There will be other skeins but this one, this one was special.  It may have cinched the deal that someday, in my spare time, I will be a spinner and make some of this yarn myself.  I believe that once you knit with hand spun yarn full of colors and sparkles well, there may be no way to go back.  

 

The only problem now is that Summer slid in while we weren't looking and the eighty degree weather brought out the swim suits and water play...and not the wool scarf that I just finished.  bummer.  

There's always September though, right?

What's inspiring you today?  

 

 

Beach time::

After visiting with family this past week, we headed to the coast to enjoy some beach time.  

One thing about living in the mountains is that we dream of the ocean.  To feel the water on our feet and the ocean breeze on our faces is pure heaven.  The sun came out thankfully and although the water was cold we braved the beach anyway.  

We were that determined. 

 

Our nineteen month old spent many happy hours playing in the sand and toddling around after the birds. She then proceeded to fall asleep in the big daddy's arms for a three hour nap.  

 

My four year old ran and ran and ran in and out of the water until his lips were purple and his hands were popsicles.  Then, he bundled up in towels and his hoodie to wait for a slight bit of warmth to return.  Only to do it all over again. Needless to say, he slept well that night.  

 

My eight year old was the ring leader in the boogie boarding adventures and braved the icy waters for most of the day.  Stopping for lunch but not much else.  He dug in the sand and made a HUGE sandcastle.  He even whispered, thankfully, that he had seen a shark in the water, "he thought, he wasn't sure, but probably and it was big-ish".  

 

My twelve year old was happy to luxuriate on land reading the whole time.  

Oh, how times have changed.  

It was a bit strange to have her next to me most of the day.  Though, I will admit the water was freezing by my standards and there was no way I was jumping in either so I don't really blame her for not wanting to swim.

And really, reading in the sunshine by the ocean what could be better?  

 

Knitting was accomplished by small bits at a time.  Enjoying the sun, the laughter and the crashing ocean.  The big daddy had a snooze while the baby slept on him.  

Relaxing it was.  oh yes.  

 

Overall a successful trip.  Time with family.  Meeting a new wee baby.  Catching up with friends.  Soaking up some sunshine and ocean breezes.  

Even the sandwich snatcher, pictured above,  couldn't ruin our time.  

And now...The laundry's done.  The house returned to some assemblance of order, as of this moment at least.  

I hope to make it to the sewing machine today.  As we are in that magical leap day which comes so rarely it feels as though it should be marked with some creative time.  What do you think?  

There's also knitting pieces to share with you in the next few days.

What do you have planned for today?

 

 

A bit of New York::

Well, it happened again.  I left out of town thinking and sincerely knowing "I would blog from the road".  Yes, that was the plan.  As we can all see that is not exactly what happened.  

Though, I'm not entirely sure it's all my fault.  I mean, if New York wasn't so captivating and full and delicious and inspiring, and, and...  I'm not sure there are many out there who could resist her charms.  She's powerful.  She's electric.  She has amazing lattes that keep you up all hours of the night so that by the time you do arrive home you are wiped out and ready to sleep for a week.  

 

So it was that I walked miles and miles there.  Which came in very handy when passing one of the many cupcake shops.  Oh, you better believe it!  

By day and night she had me from the start--From the museums to the french onion soup in out of the way french restaurants to the stark winter beauty of central park to the lights oh, the lights.

There is everything in the city.  I didn't think it could get any better until... 

`

Vogue Knitting Live came to town along with my delightful, dear friends and knitting group.  The three Amiga's in the Big city armed with knitting needles, yarn and the desire to learn new things.  

We took classes and ate in the aforementioned french restaurant, a few times in fact.  Knitting while we waited.  Incredible.  We shared a room and it was like summer camp for adults.  Only we wrapped up in all types of knitted items and carried knitting projects around in our purses.  

To say I had a delightful time would not even begin to describe it.  We were going the whole time we were there.  Knitting classes, lunch, museums, knitting classes again, the marketplace with some INCREDIBLE yarn, delicious dinners and even a show or two.  

All I know is...it was out of the ordinary to take this time as a mama.  Time to be together with friends doing something we all love.  Taking time away from our families.  Out of the ordinary, but so amazing.  Doing something that recharged us creatively, after we caught up on all the missed sleep of course.  It was a luxury that I know all three of us enjoyed to the last moment.  

 

There was more...   

One of my dear Nirvana friends the lovely Laura stayed with us as well.  She brought smiles and beading gifts and delicious restaurants to go to with other lovely designers and she delivers a mean latte when the morning before class just isn't long enough.  So grateful to meet up with her again and have some time to knit, laugh and snuggle while sleeping.  I've written about her impeccable designs many times.  

There was a talk given at the Gala Fashion Show Night by Alice Starmore.  Inspired by her talk about knitting, designing, yarn, and life style.  Incredible.  I'm a new fan.  Plus, she works closely with her daughter who is also a designer.  Wouldn't that be  fabulous?!!??

The lovely woman sitting to my left at the dinner that night and new Philly friend made the evening even better.  The friendly face in a sea of strangers.  Who I'm now corrupting, I mean teaching, some new knitting stuff.  How lucky I feel to have sat down next to her. 

 

So it was that we arrived home last week and I have put in some serious hours sleeping.  On the flight home I'm pretty sure we made up the only knitting row on the plane click-clacking away on our needles. 

I have new projects in the works.  Yarn to share with you and inspiration abounds.  

My hope is to share that here with you all soon.  

Hope your week is starting out well, 

Kellen

 

 

Beauty::

 

An Art Installation of Ten Thousand Paper Cranes.

Beauty amongst the flurry of an international airport.

Something I want to remember this season.

 

Happy Holidays to you all!  

 

By Hand::

This scarf was knit entirely by the sand, I mean by hand.  

This was my summer knitting project, amongst a few others, that traveled to and from the beach every day.  This one with it's bright, happy colors finished first. 

I've knit this scarf in the Summer before, here and here.  I don't know why really.  

Is it the ease of carrying it around?  

Is it the mindless knitting that allows my full attention in other places simultaneously?  

Is it the delightful colors that mesmerize me?  

Yes. Yes. Yes.  

 

I've raved about this scarf many times.  

I've said what a great beginning knitting project this would be with the maximum satisfaction with the end product.  

Most of all though, it seems to be my most worn knit item.  

Sure, I'm attempting to distract myself with other knits I've finished recently but this one is hard to pass by.  The colors alone in the middle of a dark, gray winter are enough to brighten any day.   

 

So if you haven't tried the Noro Scarf yet, you might want to.  

You'll find, with any research at all, that it's extremely difficult to not post about fifty pictures of this scarf.  The colors I tell ya....they get me every time!

 

What are you knitting these days?  

 

 

A Stowaway::

Something happened on Tuesday and I had to tell you all about it...  

We pulled into the driveway, parked the car and pulled out all our duffel bags and children from our travels.  We pushed past the small mound of mail to be looked at later and dumped the bags in the middle of the living room.  Only because that is all we had the strength to do.  

We began touring the house with the children all proclaiming their rooms to be "so great" and they "missed them so".  The big daddy and I soooo tired from our long travels and no sleep on a red eye flight and well, you know the story, sat down on the couch and sighed.  Home at last.

 

A bit later there was some flurry around the duffel bags and a few crucial things were pulled out.  Wet suits, a pair of shoes, not much really.  Then, we began looking through the mail as to further procrastinate the unpacking.  Ten minutes later our three year old walked up to me lying on the couch and said, "there's a frog in the kitchen."  

I may have mumbled "uh-huh, okay..." keeping my eyes closed.  

He said it again, "Mama there's a frog in the kitchen".  

My eyes flew open and I said, "what?" sensing now that something was amiss.  

He said again, eyes fixed toward the floor, very matter of fact, "there's...a...frog...in...the...kitchen".

In seconds all five of us were on our feet hurling toward the kitchen. 

Now I ask you...have any of you EVER had a frog in your kitchen?  

After all the excitement of catching him, chasing him (I'm assuming it was a him for lack of better frog/toad knowledge) and everyone giggling and screaming and him jolly and jumping everywhere it was the big daddy who finally scooped him up and shuffled him outside much to the protests of my children.  

Shaking our heads, smiles on our faces we went back to resting, mail sorting, etc.

 

The problem was that I couldn't get out of my head how in the world that frog had gotten into the kitchen in the first place.  Where had he come from? The sink? The cupboards...

Every two minutes I kept saying out loud "How did that frog get inside?"  I thought maybe the children had left the door open, or taken something outside and brought it inside.  No one.

Finally on about the twelfth time of me saying this the big daddy slowly sat up and said, "I pulled out the shoes."

Now it was quite some time before we had this epiphany but you have to understand how tired we were.  "What?" I said.

"I pulled out our guys tennis shoes.  Out of the duffel bag".  

These very same tennis shoes had been sitting out on the porch for the whole of our vacation.  Tennis shoes at the beach?  Exactly!  The child had been in flip flops since arrival.  

When we left we tucked the shoes from the porch into a plastic bag with another pair of wet shoes and tucked them in a duffel.  My duffel if were being exact.  

This was the bag taken from the duffel to remove the wet shoes not forty minutes earlier.  And, there it sat about ten feet from the discovery of said "frog".  

A stowaway!

So not only was there a frog in our house but this frog had traveled thousands of miles over an ocean having gone through security, agriculture check and still made it to our house living, breathing and croaking.   

Can you believe that??!!!??

I still can't.

 

The children immediately raced outside to find the frog.  Flashlights, neighbors, down on hands and knees looking for over thirty minutes to no avail.

So, as funny as we thought this was we immediately realized that setting an island frog free in the mountains may not have been the smartest of moves.  Insert again how tired we were that it took so long to figure this out.  

So what else is a girl to do but call animal control and make sure that some serious frog epidemic isn't going to harm anything in the area/people/the frogs that we have here in the mountains? That's the other thing, I don't even know the types of frogs that live here nor do I know if they would be friendly to a visiting islander.  I would hope that they would but now I was getting concerned for our little friend.

Anyway... 

Animal control thought our call was a joke.  They have yet to call us back.  

There's a frog in our front yard who crossed an ocean to get here through pain of x-ray and stinky tennis shoes and all day I wondered....

Should I start knitting this poor guy a sweater because he won't be used to winter of this sort.  Not that it would do any good as I can't find him anyway.  I can hear him happily croaking as of last night when I watered the yard but whenever I got too close he became very quiet.  Maybe a bit suspicious that we would throw him into another pair of shoes, I assume... 

I suppose it gives light to the old joke of why did the chicken cross the road...only here its why did the frog cross an ocean, well to see what it was like to live in the mountains of course.  

That is all.

 

Hope you have a delicious, delightful weekend with family and friends.  I'll see you back here on Tuesday with some knitting fresh off the needles. 

 ***edited*** it seems that Fall brought with it a round of colds and coughs after the weekend....I will be back soon, I promise, with knitting fresh off the needles...Thursday?  I hope.  

 

 

Beach Moments::

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What amazes me most about photographs is how they can capture one moment and suspend it in time.  How a glimpse years later can send your mind whirling off into another story or your own memories.  

As I compiled these pictures from our trip I realized that photographs provide the opportunity to see that moment in real life.  As so much is usually happening in, on and around these photographs its just a bit of the whole story.  

The amazing sunset that we saw only because we turned around from our long walk on the beach back to our place.  

The feet constantly covered in sand and how mother nature can make the most mundane thing beautiful. 

The photograph of our little birthday girl in her fairy suit scooting down the beach toward the water again and again and again...

The feeling of looking up, growing big enough to take on the waves, building castles and hoping they will be there the next day and seeing beauty in the morning just as the sun is rising.  

The smile of a boy who just had a ride on a HUGE wave and only wants to do it again. 

The rainbow after a rainstorm and napping baby feet good enough to nibble on.  

The fragrant flowers and a sea faring adventure.

The lily pond filled with just enough light as my honey and I take an early morning walk for lattes.

The little one perfectly happy with a bucket and a shovel.  

The double rainbow after an even bigger rainstorm with all of us huddled under an umbrella eating our dinner.  That food never tasted so good.  

The girl surfer of ours catching wave after wave and making friends out in the ocean.

The tree so big I couldn't capture it all in one photo.  Stretching its limbs across the sky to give us shade.  thank you big tree.  

And, my favorite beach with its views, sunsets and logs that if you look quickly look as though a mermaid is sunning herself.   

 

 

All in all I'm a lover of photographs.  

A "capturer" of moments.

 A mama attempting to find those times in between all the other not so fun stuff, to cherish what is beautiful.  To see what is significant and worth remembering.  

That for me is what photographs can do.  

It's magic isn't it?

 

 

 

Beach Time

Since we live near the mountains we have all types of seasons.  

We have Fall with it's apples, children off to school, brightly colored leaves and warm mittens.

We have Winter which brings snow, sledding, holidays and wool sweaters.

Spring arrives as green shoots burst from the brown ground, loads of birds sing, bikes are dusted off and taken on adventures, and the warm sunshine returns.

Summer brings outdoor dining, farmers markets, hiking, swimming neighbors and joyful swinging.

We love it all. 

 

But, the one thing we don't get enough of is the ocean.  

It's the place we love to visit when we travel.  

There's something nourishing about being so small in such a vast ocean.  

Feeling the sand between your toes and getting to bed way too late just because you needed a bit more time to swim.  

 

We have looked forward to this time at the beach all summer.  

We are soaking it up, breathing it in and other than the occasional sibling squabbling, that must have made its way into someones duffel bag, we are having a delightful time finding a new rhythm.  

Walks have never been so motivating as they are at the beach and a good long swim makes everything right with the world.  

Plus, I've been making sure to get some sand into my new Noro scarf just because.

So all in all we are enjoying Summer and all it brings us. 

 

I hope your summer is just what you are wishing for.  

Happy Tuesday!